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Vital Lacerda (newrev)

I struggled for a few seconds to find a better way to write the subject line... essentially, I've just become aware of this game and I want it for the production value, the components, and for the programing nature of the gameplay. I get the feeling that it's a good game.

But how much satisfaction of the gameplay comes from having an affinity of the League of Legends theme? I guess that's what I'm asking.

Personally I have no interest in the League of Legends video game, nor will I ever gain an interest (trust me). So does this game absolutely stand on it's own? Will someone like me, who enjoys playing good games, not have a problem adding this game to the collection despite having ZERO interest in the theme?

IOW: Is the gameplay good enough to overcome a total indifference to the theme?

Plus, until I saw this game, I was finished for a while buying any more co-ops. Co-ops have infiltrated my collection way too much and it has to stop! But if you guys say to get it despite the League of Legends theme, then it looks like this game will have to break that policy! Argh!

I struggled for a few seconds to find a better way to write the subject line... essentially, I've just become aware of this game and I want it for the production value, the components, and for the programing nature of the gameplay. I get the feeling that it's a good game.

But how much satisfaction of the gameplay comes from having an affinity of the League of Legends theme? I guess that's what I'm asking.

Personally I have no interest in the League of Legends video game, nor will I ever gain an interest (trust me). So does this game absolutely stand on it's own? Will someone like me, who enjoys playing good games, not have a problem adding this game to the collection despite having ZERO interest in the theme?

IOW: Is the gameplay good enough to overcome a total indifference to the theme?

Plus, until I saw this game, I was finished for a while buying any more co-ops. Co-ops have infiltrated my collection way too much and it has to stop! But if you guys say to get it despite the League of Legends theme, then it looks like this game will have to break that policy! Argh!

I've been playing LoL online for probably around 2 years now and still have no idea what the hell the lore of this game is supposed to be beyond "random things that look like they belong in different genres punching on for some reason" so you should be right with the boardgame.

Hi Barry, we tried to make the game stand on it's own. We wanted it to fit the league of legends world and be true to the characters, but we didn't want anyone to feel like they were missing out if they weren't familiar with the lore. As some others have commented, even many die-hard league players aren't really familiar with the Lore.

So if you're familiar with the lore, you'll know that flamespitter is one of Rumble's weapons. If you're not you'll still understand that it's a thing that spits flames.

If you don't know the lore, you'll see the big honking mace on the battlefield and think "that's a big honking mace". If you're familiar with the lore you'll recognize that it belongs to a champion named Mordekasier.

I remember when researching which MOAB I wanted to try (this was after I heard about "MOABs" during the rum and bones Kickstarter) I encountered an article somewhere which talked about a lot of LoL's success being that it had no consistent or uniform theme, rather it was a mismatch of different shit. Now being bit of a lore hound (love my warhammer and Runebound and Arkham etc universes) I initially found this off putting but the way the article presented it was basically that no matter what you were into you would find a champion to suit your needs. Like traditional fantasy? There are barbarians, wizards and monsters for you. Like that Animie stuff? There are characters that fit that style. Like sexy half naked chicks that cause BGG threadrage? You got those too. Like cartoony, non serious clowny stuff? There are a pile of those characters. Want tragic characters with a bit of pathos. Yep, they are in there. You can be a dragon, you can be a robot. You can be a little girl. And that's without skins. So basically whatever style a player liked they would find, and that resulted in a much wider player base. And after reading the article I came around to thinking it was a great idea. So for months (years?) I always was under the impression there in fact was no lore. That's incorrect, and lately it seems the designers are trying to rework their champions to be a bit more uniform to fit into "factions" (I have no idea how many or who they are) and at this stage I have no idea where i'd even go for a summary of it all. Maybe one day I will google it and see if I can find something beyond the minor in game clues that i've picked up. But for now rest assured that from what I've seen of MvM with radio plays and stuff you'll have far more idea as to why you are programming a mech in the boardgame than I do as to why I am playing a fencer trying to take down a tower in the top lane to get to a magic exploding crystal while a wolf man jumps at me from the bushes where a fox in combat gear is hiding.

I personally knew nothing about the lore of LoL before playing this and can say we are having a very fun time.The missions set the setting and the beautiful miniatures with solid gameplay bring it al to life. Really loving this game. And the theme is solid and very immersive.

All, thank you for your excellent and enthusiastic responses! Looks like I'll be buying the game!

I wondered about the theme's incorporation into the game, after a member of my local Meet-up showed me his copy last night. He was gushing. While I was extremely impressed by the components and production value, my reaction to the look of the painted Mechs was more, "Hmmm... now, that's not exactly my cup of tea."

I'm one who absolutely craves strong theme in my games, but it has to be a theme that fancies me, if you know what I mean. So it was my mixed thoughts that spurred me to post this thread. And thanks to you all, I'm convinced that this is one game where I can overlook the theme! And who knows, perhaps it will grow on me!

For me it doesn't add all of nothing. Some of the writing in the manual is a little more humorous, and I do like that I can get my League friends to gamenight using the theme. That being said, I haven't played league in 3 years and I am still super excited about the boardgame.